MDA Labor Day Telethon - Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

• Don Francisco, the host of Sábado Gigante, is MDA's spokesperson on behalf of Hispanics with neuromuscular diseases—he generally appears in the telethon in a pre-recorded message, appealing to Hispanics in Spanish to donate. Don Francisco is also known in his native Chile as host of that country's Teletón, for handicapped children.

• Game show announcer, Johnny Olson was the telethon's announcer for the first five years, from 1966 to 1970 before Ed McMahon took over the role in 1973, and held it until his death in 2009.

• 7 Up was the telethon's first corporate sponsor, in which they would raise money through special promotions and issue checks in installments with multiple stage appearances used as advertising to Jerry during the course of the telethon. 7 Up is also the longest corporate sponsor (under current owner Dr Pepper Snapple Group), supporting the telethon since 1974.

• Prior to 1974, sponsorship was generally limited to trade unions and civic organizations—the most durable being the International Association of Fire Fighters, who supported the MDA since 1954, and appeared on the telethon since 1966.

• The National Association of Letter Carriers was another labor organisation long-associated with the MDA, with the group naming the MDA as its "official charity" in 1952. The union's first nationally coordinated campaign to raise funds for MDA came during Thanksgiving Week in 1953, when tens of thousands of letter carriers in more than 800 cities returned to their routes for a second time after completing their holiday-heavy mail deliveries. The all-volunteer effort was called "The Letter Carrier March for Muscular Dystrophy".

• Another notable sponsor was 7-Eleven, who was a sponsor from 1976 to the early-2000s. Early on, Jerry Lewis would appear in commercials urging 7-Eleven shoppers to "Keep The Change" for his Kids. During the late-1970s and early-1980s, Jerry also appeared in commercials for 7-Eleven, promoting its stores and products.

• In 1980, a strike by AFTRA and SAG prevented many guest stars from performing. Instead, they simply walked onstage, shook hands with Lewis, handed him a personal check, and encouraged viewers to make a donation.

• Jerry was also the host of the first edition of the French Téléthon in 1987, which benefits the muscular dystrophy charity in France, L'Association française contre les myopathies. Jerry also co-hosted the 1991 edition. The French MD telethon is generally televised at various intervals on the France Télévisions group of channels (France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5, France Ô and Outre-Mer 1ère) on the first weekend in December. The 2007 edition took in €96,228,136 (US$141,089,693) in pledges, down from its 2006 total of €101,472,581 (US$136,389,286). (The value in US dollars against Euros are as of the telethon's broadcast for that particular year.)

• Today, of the charter affiliates of the "Love Network", WHEC-TV and the present-day WGRZ and WLNE-TV still carry the telethon. WLNE's carriage was not continuous, however, as WPRI-TV carried the program for some years until WLNE picked up the telethon again in 1994.
  • What is now WLVI-TV (the former WKBG) has since dropped the event, which has since moved to WCVB-TV.
  • Today's WNYW (the former WNEW) dropped the telethon after 1986, which moved to WWOR-TV in 1987. Ironically, both WNYW and WWOR are now under the common ownership of the Fox Television Stations Group.